The original game consisted of 30 neighborhood kids from which the player must build a team.[1] Beginning from Backyard Baseball 2001 (2000), however, the games have additionally featured Major League Baseball players reimagined as kids, with the exception of Backyard Sports: Sandlot Sluggers (2010).
In Backyard Baseball, players take a managerial role by creating a team of different players to compete against opponents. In the different installments, one could choose to play a one-off exhibition game or a seasonal league, followed by the "Backyard Baseball League" playoffs, which contains the American League and National Leaguedivision series,[a] the AL and NL championship series[b] and finally the "Backyard Baseball World Series".[c] Series games will vary per game.
This game has various playable modes, and they include: Single Game, Batting Practice, Spectator, and Season Game.
A remastered version of the first Backyard Baseball title was released for Windows (via Steam) on October 10, 2024,[2] followed by ports for iOS and Android on March 27, 2025,[3] and for Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 5 on June 12, 2025.[4][5] A remastered version of Backyard Baseball 2001 was released for Windows, iOS, and Android on July 8, 2025.[6][7][8]
Legacy
Pablo Sanchez, one of the fictional playable characters in the game, has been regarded as one of the strongest athletes in video game history.[9][10][11]
The game has also been noted for its diversity (gender, race, disability, etc.) of characters, both in ratio of white to non-white and male to female, as well as skill level and the distribution of the best characters.[12]
† Backyard Sports was removed from Humongous Entertainment's control in 2005. That series is currently owned (since 2021) by Backyard Sports LLC and handled (since 2024) by Playground Productions.
